masseffectfandomcom-20200222-history
Assault Rifle Guide
Assault rifles are well-balanced weapons useful for close quarters, medium-range firefights, and long-range countersniping. Their high rate of fire unfortunately leads to high overheat rates, but careful conservation of accuracy (recommended for anything farther than a few meters) should eliminate that problem. __TOC__ Close-Quarters Battle For CQB, little subtlety is required; if the target is close enough, just open up on them, preferably when crouching - don't take cover, as that will hinder your line of sight. Watch your heat and stop before it blows, but accuracy shouldn't be a problem for targets closer than two or three meters as most of them will still be inside the reticle. Usage of weapon modifications that decrease rate of overheating, ammunition types that increase damage done or force of impact, and Overkill all increase the AR's effectiveness in close quarters. Any class can use the assault rifle, but has to be learned, it is generally advisable to use a shotgun when enemies get too intimate. Mid to Long-Range Battles For mid-range combat, preserving accuracy is incredibly important. Take a crouching, zoomed position or take cover and look over to maintain high levels of accuracy and fire in bursts. Similarly, upgrades that enhance maximum accuracy are important here. Long-range combat simply requires a more intense regulation of accuracy, as any major decrease will lead to the inability to hit your target at sniper rifle ranges. Ammunition that decreases your target's accuracy or boosts their overheating rate would be good to use against snipers, as it may lead to their only being able to fire single shots or having to wait longer to target you. Tips For Any Combat Equip your assault rifle with two Frictionless Materials or Heat Sink upgrades. Choosing the correct upgrades means your rifle barely overheats at all. Stability upgrades and accuracy upgrades also improve assault rifle performance. # Your accuracy will depend on base accuracy, modifiers and stability. Getting a high base accuracy is important since it reduces the reticule and thereby reduces the maximum expansion, but getting a stability upgrade to reduce the size it increases is also useful. # You do not overheat. Pretty obvious. Now you can fire unlimited bursts at enemies, even hose their position while waiting for them to get out from cover! # Unlimited range. Your zoomed reticle will now be at its minimum size 100% of the time (see 1). This means that the enemy you can barely see with your sniper rifle will die if you move the reticle over his head. Optimal modification and ammunition configurations The highest damage without using Overkill is achieved by combining two Frictionless Materials X mods with Shredder or Tungsten VII ammo. This needs to be micromanaged according to enemy type (i.e. the ammunition must be switched when you go from fighting organics to synthetics, and vice versa), but will yield 6155 dmg/sec on an HMWA X rifle, without overheating. Combining two Scram Rail X's and Snowblind X ammo also will not overheat the gun, but only deals 4682 dmg/sec on an HMWA X rifle because of the 40% reduced rate-of-fire. It does reduce target accuracy, however. If you do not need to fire bursts of more than 15 seconds, the highest damage loadout is a Rail Extension VII and a Frictionless Materials X combination with Tungsten or Shredder VII ammo. This will deal 7248 dmg/sec on an HMWA X rifle, although fire must be interrupted for 2.5 seconds after 15 seconds sustained fire to avoid overheating. When using Master Overkill, two Rail Extension VIIs and Shredder/Tungsten VII ammo will deal 8946 dmg/sec without overheating on an HMWA X rifle. This is the absolute most damage that an assault rifle can do. Without using Overkill, however, this combination will overheat very quickly. Against Thorian Creepers, the best combination is a pair of Frictionless Materials X mods and Sledgehammer X ammo. A fairly short burst of this should knock the creeper over, at which point you can switch fire to the next creeper and knock him over, and cycle through all the creepers you are facing until they are all killed. The Frictionless Materials ensure that your rifle will not overheat, which is essential as creepers generally attack in large groups. Category:Guides Category:Mass Effect